Spirals
by priceofpower
Summary: Naruto has a demon inside him desperate for revenge, Sasuke is tormented by the ghost of blind Izuna who says the past will repeat itself. An alternate universe where they are forced to work together to ward off an even greater foe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This story is finished and it is very long so bear with me. It took me a while to go through and try to figure out the plot problems but I couldn't catch everything and I wrote it sporadically so any feedback about anything would be helpful. THANKS!**

Amegakure.

Full of billons of dots of lights from what appears to be an endless amount of buildings that touch the heavens above. The cars race down the congested streets as if they were being chased with a blow torch. A blur of colors that is what these cars appeared as to the average human just walking up and down these dirtied streets in the forgotten corners of this vast city.

The endless stores were crammed together like glowing electric boxes stacked high into the sky. From above it looked like a toy city. Something that shouldn't be real. Something that is magical in its own right. One of the many congested places in the world where secrets, alternative universes, and the unbelievable thrive.

The unfortunate part was that it was always raining. And if it wasn't raining…it was grey and cloudy anyway.

My mother sped down the congested streets of the city humming to herself and to me. She had finally made enough money to get us a trip to Konoha where she grew up and had met my father. Of course we would be driving and that in itself was going to be a nightmare but I was so excited to finally leave the city that it truly didn't matter. And besides, it was only she and I in a little car. It wasn't like I had any other pestering siblings…though I desperately wished I had.

I have lived here my whole life. My mother was an aspiring singer and she was always getting up while it was still dark to practice. Then she worked evenings at the little restaurant below our cramped little apartment.

Because she was always running around and I was always far too lazy and was busy doing other things that I deemed more worthwhile than cleaning—the place was never cleaned. I mean once every Friday we were forced to finally battle over who was supposed to do the dishes that week because we would run out of food and utensils and plates while they stacked up on the little used-to-be-white counter.

The city was a relatively dangerous place and so to keep us safe, my mother had to pay more than she would have liked to for our apartment. My mother was always saying that as soon as she had her big break we were going to move to the country and have some fresh air. She said that before I was born, she had never lived in a city before. She used to tell me snippets about Konoha but I could never divulge much more than the basics.

I still didn't know my father's name.

I had tried to ask my mother about her family and who my father was when they started asking at school for a project we were forced to do. My mother had simply said that it was unimportant but when I pressed that I needed the grade, she told me that my father had died protecting the people he loved and I should be proud to be his son.

I don't remember my father but I used to dream of him humming a lullaby. Maybe my kaasan had used to sing it but in my dream it was my father. I never saw his face and it almost seemed like it had come from inside me rather than from a person standing by me.

She used to tell me that when she first came to Amegakure with me that she could literally taste the change in the air. I had never noticed because I grew up in this unclean air. I was used to the puddles of muck and rain and knew by instinct really not to touch it. I was used to the crowds of people always rushing through town and knew not to go out after dark and especially not alone. I was used to carrying a knife and avoiding the cold glares from other's as I passed.

I don't know why but people have always hated me.

Maybe they sense that I cause trouble or at least trouble always seems to follow me. People always seem to be drawn to me in some negative way, coming after me for no reason. I've been almost stabbed and killed many times. But then I do live in Amegakure.

My mother knows something that she's not telling me. I can tell when she looks at me when I get my debilitating stomachaches. It's like she feels guilty about something and winces at the memory. I never ask her what's on her mind while my stomach growls and thrashes inside me. Sometimes its like its trying to claw right through my skin and escape my body.

My mother is very beautiful and it makes me sad to see her in pain. She has long red hair and kind green-blue eyes. I don't really look like her with my spiky unruly blond hair and bright blue eyes. I supposed I look like my father.

Another thing about my mother—Kushina—had the most perfect smile in the entire world, flawless even with what I perceived to be the ideal medium-sized lips that were naturally pink.

I sat next to her now. My stomach was hurting me. My head was swimming in delirious pain. I tried to keep the sickness from my expression, afraid that she would cancel our trip but I knew my kaasan was picking up on it. She kept glancing at me nervously. It didn't help that I hadn't been sleeping lately so I kept nodding off.

I held her arm while she drove towards the outskirts, my stomach cramping and twisting inside me. My skin felt hot, maybe I had a fever?

. It was the same dream over and over again. Something ripping me apart, clawing its ravenous way to the surface. It burned me, scorned me. I could see nothing but it snapped its jaws at me, froth erupting behind giant white teeth.

I had woken up screaming and clutching my head the first night I had had this dream, feeling the heat still on my face. Kushina had thankfully left early for an audition and so she did not have to hear my screams. I was drenched in sweat and the dream was so vivid that even the comforting rays of the sun beating back night's mysterious shadows, did not lift the shadow that was hanging over me.

But lately I had been so tired from all the excitement with the trip that I had not had any dreams in three days. Thank God, that is all I have to say.

My favorite band came on the radio. I smiled as I turned it up.

"What's this?" Kushina asked me offhandedly.

"The Akatsuki's song "Pain.""

My mother rolled her eyes playfully and I could not help but smile back. I was so close to her, I loved her so much. Just her very presence sent warm waves through me.

"Are you excited, Naru?" she asked in that youthful voice she had, eyes on the road but glancing politely at me.

"Absolutely!" I exclaimed and she laughed. "You know I've never been outside the city. I want to see everything! Did you know I want to see the world?"

We laughed together and she patted my hand. "I did not know that…you'll have to get some money first of course."

I shrugged and waved my hand at her. "I'm still figuring that out, kaasan! First I have to figure a way to get onto a genin team!"

"You barely passed the ninja academy, Naruto." She laughed.

I pouted. "Kaasan!" I looked at her seriously. "I want to be an hokage someday."

She looked at me somberly. "There are no hokage in Amegakure, Naruto. You know that."

"But there are in the Land of Fire, right?" I said excitedly. "I saw pictures of the stone monument in Konoha of all the hokages!"

She shook her head and gave me a deep and meaningful look but didn't say anything. I hated when she did that. I knew she knew something I didn't.

I shook my head but she raised her hand for me to be silent.

"My sweet Naruto Tree Uzumaki," she said and I sprang to full attention at the mention of my full name.

"I'm not sweet." I corrected her strongly. I was a man after all. She laughed.

My middle name was Tree after the majestic ancient masterpiece that nature has gifted upon the earth to give it beauty. Plus I think my mother missed them a lot. I bet there were a lot of trees in Konoha: Village Hidden in the Leaves. Now the only trees I had seen were the pictures my mother has, there are so many other beautiful ones.

I began to sing along with some of the lyrics.

"You are an amazing person," my mother continued drawing me out from my train of thought. "But you cannot sing."

My cheeks turned bright red and I punched her playfully.

"We can't all be musicians, Kaasan!"

She chuckled at my outburst. "No, we can't." She eyed me suspiciously. "I don't suppose you've been practicing your 'art' lately, right?"

My…art?

Oh…the graffiti.

"Kaasan—!"

We stopped at a stop sign and she handed me a little package from her little compartment beneath her seat. I did not open it right away but my heart was swelling and beating fast.

I slowly unwound the brown paper. It was an old book visibly frayed and loved. I opened to the first page and smiled.

"The main character is named Naruto..."

"I found it when I was packing," Kushina said softly. "Your father and I read it when I was pregnant."

"What?" I looked at her shocked that she had willingly decided to talk about my father.

"I have been saving up for this trip for a few reasons," she explained while my hands that were examining the leather book froze in place. "I had extra money so that we could go on the trip but I wanted a better education for you and I wanted you to have a future."

I didn't say anything. I simply held my breath. She couldn't really be saying what I thought she was saying.

"It's what your father wanted…" She wasn't looking at me anymore. "When I saw this book, I knew it was time."

"Okaasan—" I tried to reach out to her but she just held up her hand and wiped her eyes.

"I've been selfish." Her shoulders shook a little and she turned her face away from me. "I was just afraid."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her. I didn't understand why she was so upset. Why wouldn't she tell me anything about my father or my past? I didn't want to press it. I didn't want to ruin this moment. My stomach twitched uncomfortably. Maybe I was hungry?

I hoped we could stop for some ramen.

We took a turn away from the sun behind a building alongside a bus; this was the road that would lead to the change I had been finally waiting for—tires squealed!

In movies everything seems to go in slow motion when you know something bad is about to happen and your heart stops! But not in real life, in real life everything happens in less than a second.

And that is exactly what happened.

I looked up to see my mother's face frozen with shock and fear, eyes locked to mine and then a car spiraled in front of us, a drunk driver! You could see it in his crazed frightened eyes as he sped out!

The bus driver honked but too late and the car smashed the bus with full force! The screams echoed in my ears and then my eyes went wide as the bus rocketed over towards us!

I reached out towards my mother trying to scream for her but I had no voice because the thing came down. My hand clasped her locket and her eyes locket with mine and then…

_Crash_!

And in a moment of thundering sound smashing my ears, brilliant flashes of red light and then…

Crunch!

Blackness.

The sound of ripping metal and the earsplitting screams of people as the heat of fire beat upon my cheeks! I rolled across the roads, scraping my arms, my legs, my hands and my face! There was an explosion and black smoke rose into the air blinding me! Glass flew toward me, slicing my cheeks when something inside me twitched.

I was on fire.

_Red._

When I finally opened my eyes, I was on the ground yards away from the accident which was going up in flames! My leg was at an odd angle and my left hand seemed to have shifted over. My cheeks burned.

Kushina!

I tried to stand but my leg screamed with pain that shot all through me and I moaned then screamed, "Kaasan! Okaasan! Where are you?"

But my voice was too weak and too hoarse to be heard above the sound of the moans and yells of others, the whirling sound of the ambulances, the fire trucks and the police cars were making me dizzy!

Fire fought the water being shot at it rising defiantly into the air, burning the clouds! I yelled for my mother!

I was being trampled as people were rushing about the catastrophe! I began to crawl towards the bus! I fought the pain that shot up my leg and rattled my snapped bone as I crawled with every fiber in me screaming for my mother!

Then suddenly the whole scene went up in flames and I was blasted back with the sheer force of it!

"No!" Tears were burning my eyes!

Someone took hold of me and picked me up as I screamed and raved like some mad person! I reached out towards what should have been my car but instead was a ball of flame! There was blood in my hair and it dripped down my neck and stained my clothes.

"Let go of me!" I screamed at the person who was dragging me back but their grip was sending waves of attempted calmness that just caused me to break into tears! "No! Okaasan! No! NO! Kushina! _NO_! Let me go…"

But my voice broke into blubbering sobs and I looked around as people were running and screaming and calling out for their loved ones. I saw a child holding a bear crying for her parents while her little dress was spattered in blood and there were burns on her hands. I saw a couple holding each other in prayer with blackened skin from the smoke.

I saw a woman lying still on the concrete as the paramedics rushed about trying to gather all the hurt.

There were countless stretchers and far too many ambulances blaring their sirens. Suddenly I was released I heard the exhale of breath as exhaustion finally overcame the being holding me back.

I staggered around looking for something. There was too much chaos and a ringing in my ears I couldn't focus. My leg throbbed and my head swam.

I stumbled over something and crashed into the cement.

I turned and saw a boy about my age. His black mop of hair was plastered to his face, hiding it from me and his muscles flexed slightly as he clung to the ground as if trying to stay connected to the world. It was like he thought something would pull him away.

A fire hydrant burst suddenly as a tiny explosion burst out and we were soaked immediately. He lay facedown and there were cuts upon his shuddering pale back. I could not move. That's when I saw what the furious and unforgiving accident had done to his body; his arm was broken and his foot shattered at an odd position and he bled everywhere.

I grabbed him, dragging our bodies out of the rain of hydrant water. My body screamed and vaguely I was aware of a malicious tug at the back of my subconscious. Suddenly his hand reached out and grabbed my wrist harshly.

His black eyes flashed red for an instant, stunning me. His eyes held mine with unparalleled hatred but they didn't _look_ at me but rather looked past me.  
"I can't…die," he stated flatly.

Something in those eyes though—loneliness.

He understood me…but I wasn't alone—He groaned, the world shifting back into focus. I tore my eyes away and landed one some_thing_ else. It was like a shadow, a clone of himself with longer hair that hovered over us. A shiver ran through mw as I realized it had no eyes.

I vomited, my eyes rolling into my head.

He shook me. "Dobe…"

I opened my eyes to look at him blurrily. What was he talking about? He didn't know me…"dobe"…dead last… There were sirens blaring.. My head throbbed. When had there been blood pouring so profusely out of my leg, I wondered vaguely.

That's when I saw the stretched bearing the remains of a woman whose red hair was drenched with blood, her eyes forever closed. My heart seemed to give a huge heave.

My chest broke and collapsed into my spine. I knew that woman. I loved that woman. That woman, spattered with blood, lying limp on the stretcher, was my beloved okaasan, Kushina Uzumaki.

And in my hand was the book, the last thing she would ever give me.

I wavered, the world going out of focus, when something in the back of my subconscious began laughing.

A deep bestial, menacing laugh.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so there's a problem in the description and you'll probably figure it out what it is when you finish this chapter. Also note the changes in who's speaking by the name between "~" those things. That's it, hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 2**

~Sasuke~

I am an avenger.

With my eyes, there is nothing I cannot do.

And I will find him. I will kill him.

I wake with a start in the hospital and for a moment everything is frozen. I'm trapped in my memory: waking up alone, my shoulder aching from where he sliced me, the overwhelming sensation of loss like my heart had stopped and I was only alive by some act of cruelty.

He ruined my childhood and left me to die. That man. I grit my teeth at the memory, my fists clenching in the blankets. I closed my eyes.

I took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

I'm not eight. I'm fifteen and in the hospital. Why? There was an accident. I was on a bus. My eyes snapped open and I scanned the room for spies or hints of Orochimaru. That serpent demon was bound to have realized I didn't return from the mission he sent me on. But I refuse to let him take my body.

He didn't know what happened to me when I left to search for Madara's eyes: the Rinnegan. Apparently, the eyes didn't die with my ancestor as I had thought they had. I had wound up in the Uchiha graveyard, hiding my chakra signature as best as I could so that my past affiliates would not know of my presence when it had happened.

…

I moved soundless through the graveyard. My stomach turned when I saw the cluster of the newest graves now some seven years dead. I carefully avoided that section trying to keep the memories at bay. But even while I was careful, I thought I heard the echo of my parents' bodies as they hit the hard floorboards.

I swallowed and moved deeper into the trees.

It was unnervingly quiet. No birds or beasts disrupted the quiet. I didn't trust it. A twig snapped. I turned abruptly to see a dark shadowy cat bolt through the trees. I started toward it grunting irritably. How could I get scared by a—

I slammed into the rough bark of a yew tree, tripped over a large rock and landed face first into the soil.

"Shit." I spat grass.

Then shudders like spiders skittered through my bones when I looked at the grave I had tipped over, my chakra flaring in fear. Something reached through the earth, through the voice in the night. A dead chakra.

The cat meowed in an amused matter.

My Sharingan activating at the glimpse of a shadow overhead. This shadow chakra, this _thing_ had always followed me. Why did I come back here? Why did I travel this far into the woods? I knew it had been waiting for my return.

I couldn't move. That shadow grinned at me, yanking from the grey sinews of the branches, dead eyes coming into focus, widening to reveal nothing there.

I tried to scream but my voice was strangled in my throat and instead someone else spoke _using my voice._

"You came for his eyes, did you?"

…

I shivered trying to take comfort in the greyish light pouring through the window. I hated this city.

This would be the one place I would be somewhat 'safe' from Orochimaru and Konoha until I figured out what to do. I touched my shoulder. The curse mark was a problem. It would always tie me to Orochimaru. I had to find _him_ though, that I would kill for putting me on this path. For taking away everything I once had.

A cold presence entered the room.

I have always been able to sense its presence even before my encounter in the graveyard. My mother used to sing lullabies to keep the shadow at bay, as if she knew even then that I would be haunted. I bit my lip forcing her memory to stay buried in my mind.

Now he had made himself fully known to me, fusing himself with my chakra so we would always be connected in some messed up way. I didn't know what he wanted from me. I couldn't help him. I had my own path, my own mission.

_Uchiha Izuna._

I had never heard of him before but I supposed he must be an ancestor of mine. Of course, I never asked and he never said. He simply bonded himself to me, told me that if I wanted to live and fulfill my destiny that I should abandon Orochimaru. I resisted and he threatened to kill me then.

To prove it, he stopped my heart for a minute causing me to have a small seizure.

I knew this had been inevitable. The Uchiha clan had always been filled with terrifying legends of betrayal, ghosts and undying hatred. My…mother…she knew that and I had been particularly sensitive toward this darkness.

Like, for example, this little haunted inn I was forced to stay at one time when I left Konoha. There were no bad ghosts just of a woman who had died there and she played as she wandered the halls as if forever in happiness and childhood. I had been jealous, activating my Sharingan and awakening my curse mark to scare her. But she had laughed in my face.

"The dead no longer suffer the living!"

I hate her.

I laced my fingers together and rested my chin on then in thought ignoring Izuna's presence now.

"What are you thinking about?" the ghost asked me. I didn't want to look at him though I felt him to my left. He had grown strong enough, feeding off my chakra, to manifest himself and speak to me.

"We can't stay here you know," he continued. "Any one of them could be spies for Orochimaru." He laughed bitterly. "You have yet to take my advice and render yourself useless to him. Or at least fake your death." He paused. "My sources tell me that he does not take betrayal well."

"Hn." I closed my eyes. "Your sources?"

I _felt_ him shrug. "The restless ghosts of the people he's killed before."

I sighed. He was right. And for some reason he did 'care' about my wellbeing. But I needed to stay. There had been something off about that boy who pulled me from the fire hydrant's downpour.

His chakra had been immense and…_red. _I didn't understand it. Even Izuna had reacted to his incredible power. Where did he get it from? He didn't look like a shinobi. I could read it in his face. I knew from seeing him around, I realized. He was always trying to spy on the ninja teams practicing in the training gyms.

But that didn't matter something had…_connected _us. I spat at the thought. There was no connection.

But there was the possibility that something was trapped inside him as Izuna was 'trapped' inside me. Except I felt that I was the one who was trapped.

I opened my eyes sighing at the IV and machines I was hooked up too. It reminded me too much of Orochimaru's experiments—wince. I ripped out the needles ignoring the biting pain that it implied. I rolled out of bed swiftly. I could feel his presence in the hallway, my sharp eyes searching the crowded dirtied hospital hallways. Izuna followed me quietly, irritated that I was ignoring him. But he was used to it by now.

I never had much to say to anymore alive let alone a ghost.

I saw a little boy crying in his mother's lap. I saw an old man weep and fall onto the heart of an old woman who lay unchanging for the rest of time. I saw the man's arms bandaged up to his elbows and the limp as a little girl ran to her parents awaiting arms who looked with plain relief on their faces.

I saw all those who sit stunned on the floor, unable to grasp what had just happened. I saw the face of a young boy with shaggy brown hair look up at me with dark brown eyes. His face was very round and very childish as if he was only fourteen maybe fifteen and on the brink of having his spurt to maturity.

"Be careful," Izuna warned quietly. "They could be spies."

He didn't know these things. He couldn't see their suffering. Something shifted in my chest but I banished the notion immediately.

My eyes narrowed as I saw the blond spiky haired boy. There were bandages on his cheeks, his body propped up on a crutch. He was waiting anxiously outside of the operating room.

His blue eyes widened when he saw me staring. I was contemplating activating my Sharingan to evaluate his being further. I smirked to myself thinking that my brother probably couldn't see what I saw…no matter how much better he claimed his eyes were.

"You look terrible," was all that came out of the dobe's mouth.

My eyes narrowed. Why did I leave my room?

"Who's that standing beside you?" he asked and my breath caught. So he could really see Izuna.

"Hajimemashite," Izuna said pleasantly. He was probably happy someone was acknowledging him.

The boy's eyes were raw. "I'm Naruto." He was clutching a devastated book. He should probably buy a new copy. "I pulled you from the fire hydrant…" He looked toward the door nervously as if he thought he heard something. "Do you know what happened?"

"A drunk pulled out in front of the bus," I said systematically. "I'm Sasuke."

"Hajimemashite." Naruto's voice shook slightly.

I didn't like to dance around a subject. "What are you?"

He looked at me curiously, taken aback. "W-what?"

I advanced toward him, ignoring the pain in my body. "What are you? How did you survive being expelled through the window?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked, his voice becoming a growl. I felt the red chakra flare for just a split second "Look back off, Sasuke-teme! I should ask what are _you_?! Marching in here with some sort of mirror-image spirit by your side!"

Why did he have to be so stupid?

"Hn." I looked away. "Because he _is_ a spirit that thinks it needs to have some role in my destiny." I didn't look at Izuna but I could hear him laughing at my expense. "Tell me what your spirit is."

"I don't have one." Naruto looked genuinely surprised.

My curse mark throbbed painfully, the heat beating against my shoulder threatening to release itself. I stumbled back and a nurse caught me.

"What are you doing out of bed, young man?" she scolded. "You nearly died and now we have to patch your arms up where you pulled the needles out."

The door opened beside Naruto.

"You can come inside now, sir."

The nurse pulled me back. I looked toward Izuna who simply shrugged and waved goodbye to Naruto. He looked exactly like me, unruly black hair though it was longer than mine and in a ponytail, slender angled features, pale skin.

The only difference was that he eyes were closed, that he didn't have eyes.

Izuna was blind. I looked at my doppleganger and a sickness swept over me. The nurse, never seeing the ghost, pulled me away thinking the loss of blood had caused me to faint.

She would never understand.

No one would.

~Naruto~

"Your mother will live."

I nearly screamed in relief. It was as if someone had told I could have all the ramen I could ever want for the rest of my life. Actually, it was better than that. It was as if I had become hokage and had a lifetime supply of ramen.

No, better.

"But…"

My triumphant shout caught in my throat.

I was shivering in frantic trepidation…or blood loss. I looked at the doctor nervously, taking no comfort in his eyes.

"She's in a coma."

My heart seemed to have stopped in my chest. "What? How? Is she going to be alright?"

The doctor shifted, never a good sign. "She can live without machines and there seems to be a good activity in her brain so there is a chance she will return but it is never certain…In this case, your mother…" He seemed unable to go on as I looked up at him with eyes glistening with tears.

Why did this happen?

He stood emotionless. This was his profession after all. "Your mother will not be able to raise you and so…so you'll be put into our city's foster care."

I blinked. Foster care. I knew what happened to kids without home. They ended up in gangs, being used, sold or harvested if they showed any sort of potential. My stomach gave an uncomfortable twitch.

"I'm sorry, Uzumaki-san," he said respectfully. "We have done all we can…There will be a caseworker coming to organize your situation as soon as possible. Again, I'm sorry, if there is anything you need, please, don't hesitate to ask."

I didn't move as he walked out the door to help the many other patients outside. My whole world came crashing down and exploded. I don't know what made my move forward; some outside forced my leg to hop along using the crutch for almost all of my weight.

I came to her bed.

I slowly raised my eyes to look upon her and my breath caught. Kaasan all bruised and broken in the hospital.

Her hair was splayed out about her while her face was bandaged and bruised badly, burned from the fires. It was a miracle she survived.

I gripped the little locket with all my might.

The blanket had covered up the rest of her body. I didn't dare lift it. I swallowed hard and clenched my fists. I wasn't angry. I wasn't afraid. But how could I ever want to become hokage if I couldn't protect the people close to me? Even if it was from disasters I couldn't control.

I was an orphan.

I would be sent to a foster home.

Hot tears slipped under the bandages on my cheeks causing my scrapes to burn. I reached out slowly to stroke her hair but when my fingers brushed it my hand recoiled back. My chest shuddered and my stomach churned as I stood there beside her and suddenly the tears were gushing down my cheeks. She would not have wanted my life ruined over this; she did not raise me to end this way. I would be damned if I disappointed her!

And she was not dead.

I exhaled trying to collect myself.

I smiled, letting warmth spread into my face. She was alive. There was still hope no matter how small. I leaned on my crutch for since there were so many people in need of immediate care they found they, the doctors, were one crutch short.

"May I come in?" said a sweet and polite voice from the door. I rubbed the tears from my eyes and sniffled while shuddering slightly.

"Yes." My voice cracked.

There were a few footsteps and then there was a warm arm around my shoulders. This nurse was gorgeous, my thoughts running away from me and settling on the sandy haired nurse.

"My name is Tsunade. I need to get you to take some x-rays for your leg." Her voice demanded acknowledgement.

I let the woman lead me away from this little room. I felt I was drowning in that room and when I was finally free it felt like a part of me stayed in that room.

And always would stay in that room.

I took a deep breath of the outside air and looked up at the nurse and she smiled at me but it was a sad smile.

"Come with me," she said and began to lead me into the unknown workings of the future.

It was night in the hospital when I awoke from a nightmare. The care was careening out of control all over again. I was screaming and trembling all over.

I sat up and put my cold feet on the floor, grabbed my crutches, and went towards the bathroom. I wasn't sure why I grabbed the scissors on the bedside table. I did not whether I was completely sane at that moment or just slightly mad.

But I walked into that bathroom, feet freezing on the hard cold floor, and I looked at myself in the mirror. My crutches were squeaking and my heart beating slowly as if determined. My yellow hair stuck to my face. I ripped off the bandages on my cheeks and saw the scratches on them that had already begun to scar like whiskers.

I didn't know what it was that I dreamed of but it was inside me.

Some beast that growled.

"What are you?" Sasuke had asked me.

I pulled off the hospital gown. It was ruined away, drenched in sweat. I looked closely at the markings on my stomach.

It was a spiral encircled by seal signs.

I watched as the image slowly faded away and disappeared from the surface of my skin.

"What am I?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: I went through this and tried to fix all the gender pronouns that were wrong. If something feels amiss, let me know! Enjoy!**

~Naruto~

I had three days before I would be given to the workings of the foster care system.

The hospital would only keep me three days because I whined all last night that I had no where to go and that I wanted to be near my mother. I couldn't just leave her here just yet. It was too soon to go into this other life.

I was stalling.

So what?

I couldn't quite grasp what had happened though my ankle was broken and they had to move my left hand back over to its rightful place because of the shift but it wasn't broken, thank god.

I had mild burns on my palms from when I had tried crawling across the hot concrete though I hadn't realized it at the time because of an adrenaline. So both my hands were bandaged along with my head where I had hit it at some point during the crash and have a concussion.

Because of the concussion I somehow managed to attain two wonderful black bruises around my eyes. Everything is dizzy and out of focus. Not to mention my angry stomach never settling.

But, all in all, I was going to make a full recovery with no side-effects.

I tried to remain positive. I needed to remain positive. I had to have faith in myself…there was nobody who would be there for me anymore. And that realization put the haunting image of Sasuke's black eyes in my mind.

His eyes were only one pair that tormented my nightmares. The other pair were my mother's kind hazel eyes as they widened fearfully at the impending danger. Only for the rest of the dream to be swirls of pain, harsh screams, darkness and flames.

Everything seemed dead while I waited in the hospital with a phony smile on my face. The nurses who had become aware of my stomach issues were afraid to touch me. I was a monster for some reason I didn't understand again.

I tried to burn what my mother had taught me in my brain permanently. I didn't want to forget anything. She used to tell me about the world beyond this raining city. Not only of Konoha but of Uzushiogakure, the land of our ancestors. She said it had been destroyed in the last great war and now it was filled with legends and ghosts. My mother always loved the supernatural. She believed that there was something greater in this world besides just us.

My stomach growled.

They didn't have ramen in the hospital, tragically.

I stood up rather in a daze. I needed to walk around just for something for my legs to do.

I slung my little bag they had given me over my shoulder. I was not going anywhere without the gift of my mother's book.

I grabbed my crutches and began to hobble from the room. My shifted hand was a little tender and so I went slowly and I was getting tired already of my hurt ankle, which, thank god, only had a hairline fracture but would take six weeks to heal.

But in three weeks I would get the walking brace.

I slipped out the door and just walked the halls. I didn't have any definite destination and I didn't want to visit my mother on the floor above me. I didn't think I could manage the trip.

I was just walking as the nurses and doctors walked down the corridor checking over their documents of other patients. That's when I accidentally passed his room.

There he was, battered and angry. He was glaring about as he was just suddenly roused by something I didn't see…but felt. That ghost, I thought instinctively.

But then he caught sight of me standing outside through the glass on the door. He waved irritably and for some reason, I went in. He had been so rude yesterday I don't know what compelled me.

He didn't say a word but watched me with those a black eyes of his. I hobbled over to his bed and sat down on the edge, looking at my hands.

I didn't say anything.

He watched me for a moment and then he spoke. "You're not speaking anymore, are you?"

I didn't answer but he nodded and then I felt the bed shift as he leaned forward and put his hand on my shoulder. He sighed as if this action too a great deal of effort for him. I felt the ghost's presence but it was as if he was trying to hide himself from me.

"I understand," he whispered. "I didn't speak for a while after..." But he didn't finish.

I looked up at him with curious eyes but still could not find the voice to speak. The action caused a wave of dizziness to overcome me and I crashed into his chest. He shoved me off him immediately.

"What the hell are you doing, dobe!"

"Don't call me that, teme!" I growled but my stomach gave an aggressive lurch. I nearly threw up.

Sasuke gave me a horrified expression as I dried heaved toward him.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" he begged pushing me away but his movement was limited by the wires in his arms.

I took a few deep breaths and steadied myself, holding my head. I stood up from the bed slowly. Why was I here? This kid didn't understand me. Was I deliberately looking for pity?

"You should come back when you want to actually talk," he said coolly. "I know you're not _that_ much of an idiot not to notice it."

I needed a drink of water.

And that's when the ghost appeared facing toward me with closed eyes.

~Sasuke~

He gazed at him, my double, Izuna.

Izuna was staring at Naruto…in his way. The only person that I had ever known, besides me, that could ever actually and truly see this creature that had decided to plague me with his presence. And this kid had to be an idiot.

He pointed to Izuna with wide eyes but there was a smile on his face. But I knew he still didn't have answers for my question regardless of whether or not he could speak.

Izuna chuckled. "You know I think I figured it out."

Sometimes the things Izuna said just irritated me. He says he figures something out and then doesn't say anything. Was this a trait shared by all ghosts? Or was I just the lucky winner of this particular cryptic asshole?

"Hn?" I clicked my tongue expectantly but he just laughed in my face.

Naruto sat up and cocked his head to the side as if to get a better look at the ghost.

"Jinchuuriki," Izuna said quietly looking toward me, his mouth forming a hard line. "If you don't do what I say then I think that this kid may be your only option for survival—"

The door slammed and a nurse burst in.

"There you are, Uzumaki-san!" she exclaimed. "You gave us quite the scare."

I sighed. I didn't understand and I hated being treated like a child. But what other choice did I have? I was on the run and trapped in a hospital basically waiting for Orochimaru to catch me. I looked the Uzumaki kid in the eye. "Find me. I think we can benefit from knowing one another."

Voices from my past came back to echo mercilessly in my memory. I banished them and shook my head. Jinchuuriki…the tailed beasts. I had read about them during my studies in Sound. They were mostly affiliated with the Akatsuki, that posing as a band terrorist group. I clenched my fists.

I knew exactly who was in the Akatsuki.

I would use this kid to achieve my goal and then nothing more. Naruto caught my eye and seemed to understand something. I didn't like that hopeful glint he had. It was wrong in a way. This kid was going to get killed if continued with this hopeful-I-believe-in-myself gait.

He disappeared with the nurse but I knew he'd be back. Or he would find me some way or some how.

"How can he see you?" I snapped at Izuna.

He shrugged guiltily. "It's probably the demon inside him that helps him sense the nearly nonexistent chakra that makes up ghosts."

I pinched my nose irritably. "We need to get out of here. I feel like the nurses are becoming a little too familiar with me. I'm going to get identified sooner or later and then we're fucked."

I looked at Izuna who was fidgeting with his long unruly black hair. "I told you that before." He paused. "So he doesn't have a family either."

I wanted to rip out my hair. "Are you trying to draw some parallel between him and me?"

He laughed. "No. I don't think he has an insane older brother like we both do." He moved closer to me and I shivered in his icy presence. "We are both bound by the same fate. We will use this… 'dobe' as you say and we will extract our revenge."

He had a brother? Why did I feel that everyone was always hiding things from me?

"_Niisan! You can't use a shadow clone jutsu in hide and seek! It's cheating!"_

"_Sorry about that, Sasuke." A gentle chuckle._

Izuna smiled having 'seen' the memory with me. Anger burned my veins. I fought with myself not to yell at him so that people wouldn't question my sanity…again!

But Naruto could see him too! I wasn't the only crazy one.

Naruto could see Izuna. My life suddenly grew a whole lot brighter with the realization that I wasn't the only one caught in this mess!

I wanted to punch myself for internally admitting weakness.

"Where were you before you came to me?" I suddenly asked Izuna who seemed to have been roused from a dream. I wanted to get my mind off of everything. I needed to rest. As proud as I was, I could admit that.

He shrugged. "Around."

"What kinds of places?" I asked in a daze. I just needed him to distract me from my muddled thoughts and that of my mother were causing me pain.

"Oh, I don't know," he said thoughtfully. "I've traveled the world with my brother, you see. I died a long time ago." He shrugged.

"Do you remember it?"

He turned his face away from me.

I stared at the white ceiling. "How did you die?"

He didn't answer. My eyelids were heavy. If he wouldn't answer me at least I could sleep and maybe heal a little faster. Maybe tonight…maybe I could escape some of my nightmares. It was wistful hope, I knew.

"Our lives parallel," I heard Izuna whisper.A little chill ran through my body at his cold words and there was an ancient sadness to them. "There's an old saying…"

"Hn."

The twilight world of sleep cradled me.

He grabbed my shoulders and my eyes snapped open, Sharingan activating out of reflex. His icy breath was on my cheeks. Why did he feel so _real_?

"_As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so you will be. Prepare for death and follow me."_

He laughed wildly.

He disappeared and I felt sick.


End file.
